Joubert apologises to Crusaders

Referee Craig Joubert has apologised to the Crusaders for the last-minute penalty in the Super Rugby final according to Richie McCaw.

Referee Craig Joubert has apologised to the Crusaders for the last-minute penalty in the Super Rugby final according to Richie McCaw.

Joubert penalised the All Black captain with two minutes remaining for coming in from the side of a ruck, with Bernard Foley taking full advantage to slot the three points and hand the Waratahs the title.

The Crusaders believed that McCaw was within his rights to challenge for the ball, and received the support of former Test referee Jonathan Kaplan, who said they could feel hard done by on the final penalty.

And on Saturday McCaw told Radio Sport that Joubert had called up Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder and put his hand up to say it was the wrong call.

This revelation follows on from the news that Jaco Peyper had apologised to New Zealand and coach Steve Hansen for some of the decisions in the first game of the Rugby Championship.

That statement from Hansen was a little ironic following on from his comments a year earlier when Australia had been complaining about Peyper's performance in a Bledisloe Cup match.

On that occasion Hansen had made it clear that he thought coaches had a responsibility to support referees, rather than calling them out in public.

"Our job should be to support them and have a quiet chat behind the scenes rather than hanging our washing in public," he said.